If you love dogs and supporting the men and women who have fought for our country, Patriot Service Dogs has just the opportunity for you.
The organization is looking for people on the Space Coast who want to volunteer to be puppy raisers for service dogs that will eventually work with veterans. They’re accepting applications right now for their Service Dog Summer School 2024, a two-month commitment to help get those dogs trained up.
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Previous puppy raisers say it’s a rewarding experience.
Take Sarah Kedzierski, a Melbourne resident who volunteered with Service Dog Summer School in 2023.
“This has been a lifelong dream of mine. This is really the number one thing on my bucket list,” said Kedzierski.
She and her husband signed up last year and were paired with a cream retriever named Josie.
“It’s a two-month program where we just work with the puppies. And they can range in age, anywhere from three months on. Our first dog was nine months old,” said Kedzierski. “Josie started out in a women’s prison. So at the age of about eight weeks, all of the puppies go to Lowell Correctional Facility. It’s to work with female inmates, and they work with the dogs 24/7. And they work with them up until the time that they go to the Summer School, or they go to the puppy trainers. So when they come to us, they’re pretty much house trained, they have some of the basic skills. They come to us primarily for socializing and for implementing those skills in real life. So that’s how we started.”
Kedzierski was a little bit nervous at first, as she’d just had back surgery, so she wasn’t sure how training would go. But it turns out, her recovery ultimately aided in Josie’s training.
“What ended up happening, it’s God’s way,” said Kedzierski. “Josie, one of the things they wanted us to work on was retrieval. Literally everything I dropped, I asked that dog to get for me. If I was doing laundry, I dropped a sock, she would get it for me, I dropped the dryer sheet, she got it for me, I would drop a dish, she would get it for me. And then as I got better, we were walking and stuff. And then I would sit in the garage and hide keys and tell her to get them or go up on a counter and get the keys or open a cabinet and get the keys. It was all about retrieval.”
This skill ultimately prepared her for the veteran she’s placed with now.
“Her veteran needed retrieval. He has a brace on his leg, and he needs support, he walks with a cane or a walker,” said Kedzierski. “And they took Josie to him. They asked her to get his brace from the chair and take it to him. She had never done that before, but she did it on the first try. So they sent me the video and I cried. And I thought, ‘She did her job.’ She learned it and she did it well. I know how much that’s going to improve this veteran’s life. Because I don’t know how I would have gotten through my surgery without her. I mean, she came to me for a reason.”
In some cases, like Josie’s, the Kedzierskis were asked to keep up her training, and instead of just two months, they kept Josie for ten months to get her ready for her future. Patriot Service Dogs pays for all the necessary costs for raising and training the pup, everything from food and toys to vet care for participants in the Summer School, or those that volunteer separately to be puppy raisers.
Kedzierski said she’s learned a lot while being part of the program, and one of the things she found most impressive is the dedication of the inmates that initially begin training the puppies. It’s all part of the WOOF Prison Program.
“The inmates are amazing. Their skills are just incredible,” said Kedzierski. “We went over to the prison and interacted with the inmates so they could work on some things that we just couldn’t quite get the way we wanted. And they were so good. And it’s like, you look at them, and they’re just like you and me. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. And the trainer that worked with Josie, I think she said she was incarcerated for like 10 years. And she said, ‘I thought this was going to be my life, I thought there would never be anything more for me.’ And then she got in this program. And she, you know, this is a tearjerker. They learned for the first time what unconditional love is like, and how to be responsible to a dog and train a dog for a higher purpose. And she said, ‘For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m going to be okay.’ And it’s like, wow. I mean, we were, we were really touched with some of those inmates.”
But the puppies need people in mainstream life to help fully prepare them for everyday life with a veteran who needs them, so that’s where you come in.
They’re looking for 10 volunteers on the Space Coast for this year’s Summer School. It’s a short-term program for people to try puppy raising with the support of other volunteers, fun training outings, and the Patriot Service Dog team. If you’re worried about whether you know enough to help, Kedzierski said the organization gives you all the support you need.
“They give you a manual to follow with certain guidelines with the language for the dog, what the dog already knows, and what they want the dog the commands they want the dog to know, and guidance on, depending on the age of the dog, where you can take them and what you could expect from them,” said Kedzierski.
She said Patriot Service Dogs screens all applicants on their experience with dogs, they do a walk-around your house to see if it’s appropriate for service dog work, they monitor personalities and how you interact with the dog to make sure they’re making the best possible pair-ups for success. Kedzierski said there’s really a lot of support you get from them on this journey.
It was such a positive experience for Kedzierski, she’s doing it again.
“We’ll get our new dog next week and she’s a black Labrador Retriever. Oh, she’ll be three months old. And her name is Magic,” she said.
The application deadline is May 15, but if you are interested in volunteering and can’t make Summer School, you can still reach out for future opportunities.
Here are some fast facts about the program:
− Patriot Service Dogs, a small non-profit based in Central Florida, provides service dogs for veterans without charge. Dogs are trained for two years in the WOOF Prison Program at Lowell Correctional Facility and by volunteer “puppy raisers.”
− Patriot Service Dogs’ annual Service Dog Summer School program is recruiting volunteer puppy
raisers for the summer months (June-August). The program is expanding on the Space Coast.
− No experience required. Two monthly training outings, all costs covered, and a graduation event.
− Apply before May 15. Dogs matched with volunteers May 28-June 3. Summer School graduation August 10.
− Help change the life of a veteran, volunteer locally, and join a strong community of volunteers.
− For more information on Service Dog Summer School, visit Volunteer - Patriot Service Dogs